Electronic components are generally arranged in housings so as on the one hand to protect them from environmental influences such as moisture and on the other hand to ensure that persons are appropriately protected. Such components pose considerable risks to life and limb in particular when using higher electrical voltages and/or currents. For this reason, there are often national regulations that for example prescribe that contact protection must be ensured. This contact protection must be maintained for as long as such components pose potential risks. Such a contact protection is to guarantee that a person cannot be injured by electrical voltages and/or currents, in that said contact protection prevents current-carrying components from coming into contact with persons.
A multiplicity of electronic components or parts can be arranged in such housings to form complex electronic circuits. However, it is sometimes also necessary to provide appropriate protection for simple arrangements that comprise only one or few electronic components. A housing in accordance with the disclosure can hold for example an inverter, electrical storage devices, electrical switching devices, collecting devices and/or monitoring devices.
It is usual for receiving such arrangements to use housings that comprise a housing body and a housing cover that closes said housing. Numerous sealing elements are also used between the housing body and the housing cover in order to protect the housing interior from the penetration of moisture from outside. This produces in this manner in the interior of the housing a space that is protected with respect to the external environment in such a manner that it is at least difficult to balance the pressure between this internal space and the external environment.
This can lead to problems in particular in the event of a sudden increase in pressure in the interior of the housing, such as can occur by way of example during an explosion or ignition of a combustible gas or gas mixture that forms by way of example in the case of defective electronic components in the interior of such a housing. It is not possible owing to the closed housing for the pressure to escape quickly into the environment. This can lead to the housing not being able to withstand the sudden increase in pressure and to said housing splitting open or bursting in an unpredictable manner. In this case, it is possible both for parts from the interior of the housing and also parts of the housing body and/or housing cover to tear off and be catapulted about. Such parts then pose a risk to persons in the vicinity of the housing. It is therefore eminently important to prevent such uncontrolled splitting or bursting of the housing.
Furthermore, it is also not possible in the above described case to prevent parts under voltage from being exposed as a result of the housing bursting and consequently appropriate contact protection is no longer provided.
The case of an internal pressure that exceeds a predetermined threshold value is also described hereinafter as an excess pressure event and the associated pressure is described as excess pressure.